Information processing device, information processing method, information processing program, and recording medium

ABSTRACT

The invention acquires article data (S 1 ), extracts characteristic words from the acquired article data (S 2 ), specifies a characteristic word which is not stored as a local area word in a database  12   b  which stores a local area word indicating a local area in association with geography information for specifying the local area, from the extracted characteristic words (S 3 ), acquires a result of searching performed in a search device, according to the specified characteristic word (S 4  and S 5 ), specifies a local area related to article data based on the search result and finds geography information (S 6 ), and stores the specified characteristic word in the database  12   b  as the local area word in association with the specified local area (S 7 ).

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a National Stage of International Application No.PCT/JP2011/062366 filed May 30, 2011, claiming priority based onJapanese Patent Application Nos. 2010-123191 filed May 28, 2010 and JP2010-145065 filed Jun. 25, 2010, the contents of all of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a technical field of an information processingdevice, an information processing method, an information processingprogram, and a recording medium which process information on Internet.

BACKGROUND ART

As use of Internet expands, various techniques are being developed whichorganize a great amount of information on Internet, and intelligiblydisplay information for users. For example, Patent Document 1 disclosesa classification result display device which displays, in time series,clustering results which enable a relationship between clusters, arelationship between document and a cluster, and a relationship betweendocument to be easily comprehended, and which enable transition of atrend of a document group to be analyzed.

CITATION LIST Patent Document

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-63249

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problem to be Solved by the Invention

However, although the above technique classifies information based onclusters, in case of information which newly appears in, for example, anews article, information is highly likely to be isolated from clusters,and therefore it is difficult to indicate a relevance between newlyappearing information and another information. In case of a new landmarksuch as a newly built building in particular, a database for a name of aplace does not usually exist, and therefore users need to, for example,search in and check another website to find the relevance as to in whicharea the new landmark is.

The invention is made in light of the problem, and object of theinvention is to provide an information processing device, an informationprocessing method, an information processing program, and a recordingmedium which can specify a local area even from a word which appears inan article and does not exist in a database.

Means for Solving the Problem

In order to solve the above problem, an aspect of the inventionincludes: a local area word memory means that stores a local area wordindicating a local area in association with geography information forspecifying the local area; an article data acquiring means that acquiresarticle data; a characteristic word extracting means that extractscharacteristic words from the article data; a characteristic wordspecifying means that specifies a characteristic word which is notstored in the local area word memory means as the local area word, fromthe extracted characteristic words; a search result means that acquiresa result of searching performed in a search device, according to thespecified characteristic word; and a local area specifying means thatspecifies a local area related to the article data based on the searchresult of the search result means, and finds geography information, andis characterized in that the local area specifying means stores thespecified characteristic word in the local area word memory means as thelocal area word in association with the specified local area.

In the information processing device according to an aspect of theinvention the characteristic word extracting means extracts a searchresult characteristic word from the search result of the search resultmeans, and the local area specifying means refers to the local area wordmemory means, specifies the local area from the relevant word, and findsthe geography information.

In the information processing according to an aspect of the inventionthe search result means searches for a plurality of related words aroundthe specified characteristic word, and the local area specifying meansspecifies the local area from the search result characteristic word, andfinds the geography information.

In the information processing device according to an aspect of theinvention the local area specifying means calculates an appearancefrequency of the characteristic word extracted from the article data,specifies the local area based on the calculated appearance frequencyand finds the geography information.

In the information processing device according to an aspect of theinvention the local area word memory means has a weighting value perlocal area word, and the local area specifying means specifies the localarea based on the calculated appearance frequency and the weightingvalue, and finds the geography information.

The information processing device according to an aspect of theinvention further includes: an article content specifying means thatspecifies article content of the article data; an article data memorymeans that stores the article data in association with the specifiedarticle content and the specified local area; a mapping means that mapsa symbol corresponding to the article data on a map based on thespecified local area; and a relevant article collecting means thatrefers to the article data memory means, and collects information aboutarticles related to the specified local area and the specified articlecontent, and is characterized in that the mapping means mans symbols inaccordance with a number of the collected articles.

In the information processing device according to an aspect of theinvention the mapping means determines an arrangement position of thearticle data in the symbol in accordance with an amount of informationof the article data.

In the information processing device according to an aspect of theinvention the article content specifying means specifies a category ofthe article content, and the mapping means changes a mode of the symbolper category.

In the information processing device according to an aspect of theinvention the article data acquiring means acquires article data relatedto a search keyword, a distribution time information specifying meansspecifies information about a distribution time at which the articledata is distributed, from the article data, and the mapping means mapsvisualization information for visually associating, on a map, symbolscorresponding to a plurality of items of article data of differentpieces of distribution time information in article data related to thesearch keyword.

According to an aspect of the invention, an information processingmethod of processing information in an information processing deviceincludes: a local area word memory step of associating and storing alocal area word indicating a local area, and geography information forspecifying the local area, in a local area word memory means; an articledata acquiring step of acquiring article data; a characteristic wordextracting step of extracting characteristic words from the articledata; a characteristic word specifying step of specifying acharacteristic word which is not stored in the local area word memorymeans as the local area word, from the extracted characteristic words; asearch result step of acquiring a result of searching performed in asearch device, according to the specified characteristic word; and alocal area specifying step of specifying a local area related to thearticle data based on the search result of the search result means, andfinding geography information, and is characterized in that, in thelocal area specifying step, the specified characteristic word is storedin the local area word memory means as the local area word inassociation with the specified local area.

An aspect of the invention causes a computer to function as: a localarea word memory means that stores a local area word indicating a localarea in association with geography information for specifying the localarea; an article data acquiring means that acquires article data; acharacteristic word extracting means that extracts characteristic wordsfrom the article data; a characteristic word specifying means thatspecifies a characteristic word which is not stored in the local areaword memory means as the local area word, from the extractedcharacteristic words; a search result means that acquires a result ofsearching performed in a search device, according to the specifiedcharacteristic word; and a local area specifying means that specifies alocal area related to the article data based on the search result of thesearch result means, and finds geography information, and ischaracterized in that the local area specifying means stores thespecified characteristic word in the local area word memory means as thelocal area word in association with the specified local area.

An aspect of the invention has an information processing programrecorded thereon that causes a computer to function as: a local areaword memory means that stores a local area word indicating a local areain association with geography information for specifying the local area;an article data acquiring means that acquires article data; acharacteristic word extracting means that extracts characteristic wordsfrom the article data; a characteristic word specifying means thatspecifies a characteristic word which is not stored in the local areaword memory means as the local area word, from the extractedcharacteristic words; a search result means that acquires a result ofsearching performed in a search device, according to the specifiedcharacteristic word; and a local area specifying means that specifies alocal area related to the article data based on the search result of thesearch result means, and finds geography information, and ischaracterized in that the local area specifying means stores thespecified characteristic word in the local area word memory means as thelocal area word in association with the specified local area.

Effect of the Invention

The invention extracts characteristic words from article data, specifiesfrom the extracted characteristic words a characteristic word which isnot stored as a local area word in a database which stores a local areaword indicating a local area in association with geography informationfor specifying a local area, acquires a result of searching performed ina search device according to the specified characteristic word,specifies the local area associated with the article data based on thesearch result and finds geography information, so that it is possible tospecify a local area even from a word which appears in an article anddoes not exist in the database.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a schematic configurationexample of an information processing system according to an embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an outline of aninformation processing server in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3A is a schematic view illustrating an example of a data structureof a local area word database in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3B is a schematic view illustrating an example of a data structureof the local area word database in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3C is a schematic view illustrating an example of a data structureof the local area word database in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3B is a schematic view illustrating an example of a data structureof the local area word database in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3E is a schematic view illustrating an example of a data structureof the local area database in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an outline of asearch server in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a data structureof a word association database in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematicconfiguration of a terminal in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of theinformation processing server in FIG. 1 for specifying a local area in afirst embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of theinformation processing server in FIG. 1 for mapping article data.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view illustrating an example of article dataacquired by the information processing server.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a frequency of anextracted local area word.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a tableconstructed in a database of the information processing server in FIG.1.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a window screendisplayed on the terminal in FIG. 1.

FIG. 13 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a symbolcorresponding to article data displayed on the terminal in FIG. 1.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a symbolcorresponding to article data displayed on the terminal in FIG. 1.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a window screendisplayed on the terminal in FIG. 1.

FIG. 16 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a window screendisplayed on the terminal in FIG. 1.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view illustrating a modified example of articledata acquired by the information processing server.

FIG. 18 is a schematic view illustrating a modified example of articledata acquired by the information processing server.

FIG. 19 is a schematic view illustrating an example of an associationbetween characteristic words extracted from an article.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a modified example of an operationof the information processing server in FIG. 1.

FIG. 21 is a schematic view illustrating a modified example of a windowscreen displayed on the terminal in FIG. 1.

FIG. 22 is a schematic view illustrating a modified example of a windowscreen displayed on the terminal in FIG. 1.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of aninformation processing server in FIG. 1 in a second embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a tableconstructed in the database of the information processing server in FIG.1.

FIG. 25 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a window screendisplayed on the terminal in FIG. 1.

FIG. 26 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a window screendisplayed on the terminal in FIG. 1.

FIG. 27 is a schematic view illustrating a first modified example ofvisualization information.

FIG. 28 is a schematic view illustrating a second modified example ofvisualization information.

FIG. 29 is a schematic view illustrating a modified example of a windowscreen displayed on the terminal in FIG. 1.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described withreference to the drawings.

[1. Outline of Configuration and Function of Information ProcessingSystem]

First, an outline of an information processing system according to anembodiment of the invention will be described using FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a schematic configurationexample of an information processing system 1 according to the presentembodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the information processing system 1 has, forexample, an information processing server (an example of an informationprocessing device) 10 which acquires article data from, for example, anew distribution site 5, and specifies a local area related to thearticle data, a search server 20 (an example of a search device) whichhas a search database for specifying the local area related to thearticle data, and a terminal 30 in which user browses the article dataorganized by the information processing server 10.

The information processing server 10 and the search server 20 areconnected through, for example, a local area network to transmit andreceive data to and from each other, and configure a server system 7.Further, the server system 7 and a plurality of terminals 30 areconnected through a network 3, and can transmit and receive data using acommunication protocol (for example, TCP/IP). In addition, the network 3is constructed by, for example, Internet, a dedicated communication line(for example, a CATV (Community Antenna Television) line), a mobilecommunication network (including, for example, base stations) and agateway. In addition, the information processing server 10 may beconnected to a shopping server (not illustrated) which manages shoppingsites, through, for example, the local area network.

The information processing server 10 extracts a characteristic word suchas a name of a place or a landmark included in article data acquiredfrom, for example, the news distribution site 5, and specifies a localarea related to the article data. Further, the information processingserver 10 provides to the terminal 30 a webpage in which symbolscorresponding to the article data are mapped on a map based on geographyinformation related to the specified local area. Meanwhile, thegeography information is information related to a local area such as aname of a local area, a local area relevant word such as a landmark, anaddress, a code such as a postal code and a longitude/latitude.

[2. Configuration and Function of Server]

(2.1 Configuration and Function of Information Processing Server 10)

Next, a configuration and a function of the information processingserver 10 will be described using FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an outline of theinformation processing server 10.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the information processing server 10 whichfunctions as a computer has a communication unit 11, a memory unit 12,an input/output interface unit 13 and a system control unit 14. Further,the system control unit 14 and the input/output interface unit 13 areconnected through a system bus 15.

The communication unit 11 connects to the network 3 to control acommunication state with, for example, the news distribution site 5 andthe terminal 30, and further connects to the local area network totransmit and receive data to and from, for example, the search server 20on the local area network.

The memory unit 12 is configured to include, for example, a hard diskdrive, and stores, for example, various programs such as an operatingsystem, a server program and a program of causing, for example, theterminal 30 to download and execute the program, and data. In addition,for example, the various programs may be acquired from, for example,another server device through the network 3, or be recorded in arecording medium and read through a drive device. Further, in the memoryunit 12, for example, webpage files described by a markup language suchas HTML (HyperText Markup Language) or XML (Extensible Markup Language)are stored.

Further, the memory unit 12 includes, for example, an article database(referred to as “article DB” below) 12 a which stores, for example,article data acquired from, for example, the news distribution site 5, alocal area word database (referred to as “local area word DB” below) 12b which stores local area words and local area relevant words such asnames of places and landmarks per local area, a map database (referredto as “map DB” below) 12 c which stores information related to a map, auser information database (referred to as “user information DB” below)12 d which stores user information and a visualization informationdatabase (referred to as “visualization information DB” below) 12 ewhich stores visualization information for visually associating items ofarticle data on a map.

In the article DB 12 a which is an example of an article data memorymeans, for example, article content, a category, distribution timeinformation and geography information related to article data areassociated with an article ID and stored together with the acquiredarticle data. Further, in the article DB 12 a, keywords for specifyingarticle content or categories of articles are also stored. Furthermore,in the article DB 12 a, an article count table obtained by counting thenumber of articles per geography information and per article contentrelated to a specified area or per specified area and per category isstored. Still further, in the article DB 12 a, index information andsnippets generated by an indexer from article data acquired from, forexample, the news distribution site 5 to search for news articles arestored. Moreover, in the article DB 12 a, a table for grouping searchedarticle data based on position information and distribution timeinformation is stored.

In the local area word DB 12 b which is an example of a local area wordmemory means, as illustrated in FIGS. 3A to 3E, local area words such asnames of prefectural and city governments, names of local governments,postal codes and names of addresses, local area relevant words such asnames of landmarks are stored in association with geography informationsuch as information about longitudes/latitudes indicated by local areas.In addition, local area words and local area relevant words may bestored in association with geography codes which are allocated per nameof a place corresponding to a point on a map (for example, a localpublic organization code allocated to each local public organization).

As illustrated in FIGS. 3A to 3E, the local area word DB 12 b includes alandmark table, a prefectural and city government table, a localgovernment table, a postal code table and an address table of specifiedstreet addresses. Further, when a local area is specified from articledata, a weight is assigned upon statistical processing of acharacteristic word extracted from article data. For example, in case ofthe landmark table as illustrated in FIG. 3A, a five-fold weight isassigned to a landmark name. Incase of the prefectural and citygovernment table as illustrated in FIG. 3B, one-fold weight is assignedto a name of a prefectural and city governments. In case of the localgovernment table as illustrated in FIG. 3C, a two-fold weight isassigned to a name of a local government. In case of the postal codetable as illustrated in FIG. 3D, a three-fold weight is assigned to apostal code. In case of the address table of specified street addressesas illustrated in FIG. 3E, a four-fold weight is assigned to a specifiedaddress. The weights to be assigned to each of these tables are storedin the local area word DB 12 b. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 3A,landmarks are also associated with addresses in the landmark table.

In the map DB 12 c, for example, image data of maps of various scales,longitude/latitude data, postal code data and address data are stored.

In the user information DB 12 d, user IDs, names, addresses, places ofbirth, telephones numbers, electronic mail addresses of users registeredas members, and attribute information such as sexes and ages of theusers are registered. Further, in the user information DB 12 d, eachuser's purchase history of products purchased at, for example, ashopping site is stored using a user ID as a key. In addition, apurchase history may be acquired from a shopping server through, forexample, the local area network.

In the visualization information DB 12 e, for example, basic forms ofarrows (an example of visualization information) are stored. Inaddition, modified types obtained by controlling, for example,thicknesses, lengths, directions, shapes, colors and shapes of startpoints and end points of these arrows based on, for example, the numberof articles, distribution time information about collected article data,and population data in a predetermined area on a map are stored.

The input/output interface unit 13 is an interface between thecommunication unit 11 and the memory unit 12, and the system controlunit 14.

The system control unit 14 includes, for example, a CPU (CentralProcessing Unit) 14 a, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 14 b and a RAM (RandomAccess Memory) 14 c. When the CPU 14 a reads and executes variousprograms stored in the ROM 14 b and the memory unit 12, the systemcontrol unit 14 performs processing with respect to acquired articledata.

Further, the system control unit 14 collects article data from the newsdistribution site 5, and transmits processed article data to theterminals 30 through the communication unit 11.

(2.2 Configuration and Function of Search Server 20)

Next, a configuration and a function of the search server 20 will bedescribed based on the drawing.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematicconfiguration of the search server 20.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the search server 20 has a communication unit21, a memory unit 22, an input/output interface unit 23 and a systemcontrol unit 24, and the system control unit 24 and the input/outputinterface unit 23 are connected through a system bus 25. In addition,the configuration and the function of the search server 20 aresubstantially the same as the configuration and the function of theinformation processing server 10, and differences from eachconfiguration and each function of the information processing server 10will be mainly described.

For example, the communication unit 21 controls a communication statewith, for example, the information processing server 10 through, forexample, the network 3 or the local area network.

In the memory unit 22, for example, a search database (referred to as“search DB” below) 22 a, and a word association database (referred to as“word association DB” below) 22 b are constructed.

In the search DB 22 a, information about websites related to searchkeywords is stored. For example, information about URLs (UniformResource Locators) of websites, index information for searching andsnippets of search results are stored in the search DB 22 a.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the word association DB 22 b functions as anexample of a word association memory database which generates anassociation between words in accordance with the relevance between wordsto store words related to a word in accordance with, for example, thedegree of relevance between words. When there are a plurality ofrelevant words, relevant words are stored as a first relevant word and asecond relevant word.

The system control unit 24 includes, for example, a CPU 24 a, a ROM 24 band a RAM 24 c. Further, when the CPU 24 a reads and executes variousprograms stored in the ROM 24 b and the memory unit 22, the systemcontrol unit 24 performs processing such as searching in response to arequest from the information processing server.

(2.3 Configuration and Function of Terminal 30)

Next, a configuration and a function of the terminal 30 will bedescribed using FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematicconfiguration of the terminal 30.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the terminal 30 which functions as a computeris a personal computer or a mobile terminal such as a mobile wirelesstelephone or a PDA, and has a communication unit 31, a memory unit 32, adisplay unit 33, an operation unit 34, an input/output interface unit 35and a system control unit 36. Further, the system control unit 36 andthe input/output interface unit 35 are connected through a system bus37.

The communication unit 31 controls communication with, for example, theinformation processing server 10 through the network 3. In addition,when the terminal 30 is a mobile wireless telephone, the communicationunit 31 has a wireless communication function of connecting to themobile communication network of the network 3.

The memory unit 32 includes, for example, a hard disk drive, and stores,for example, an operating system and a web browser program.

The display unit 33 is formed with, for example, liquid crystal displayelements or EL (Electro Luminescence) elements. The display unit 33displays, for example, a pointer which is moved by operating a mouse orwebpages including article data acquired from the information processingserver 10.

The operation unit 34 includes, for example, a keyboard and a mouse. Forexample, the operation unit 34 selects a symbol corresponding to articledata arranged on a map.

The input/output interface unit 35 is an interface between thecommunication unit 31 and the memory unit 32, and the system controlunit 36.

The system control unit 36 has, for example, a CPU 36 a, a ROM 36 b anda RAM 36 c. Further, when the CPU 36 a reads and executes variousprograms stored in the ROM 36 b, the RAM 36 c and the memory unit 32,the system control unit 36 displays webpages acquired from theinformation processing server 10, on the display unit 33 by executing ascript of a webpage.

[3. Operation of Information Processing System According to FirstEmbodiment]

Next, an operation of the information processing system 1 according tothe first embodiment will be described using FIGS. 7 to 14.

(3.1 To Specify Local Area)

First, information processing of specifying a local area such as a newlandmark which does not exist in the local area word DB 12 b andregistering the local area in the local area word DB 12 b will bedescribed using FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of theinformation processing server for specifying a local area in theinformation processing server 10.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, the information processing server 10 acquiresarticle data (step S1). More specifically, the system control unit 14 ofthe information processing server 10 serves as an example of an articledata acquiring means to acquire, for example, a sentence of article datalisted in a news distribution site from the news distribution site 5through the communication unit 11. For example, the system control unit14 of the information processing server 10 accesses the newsdistribution site and acquires article data based on URL (UniformResource Locator) information of the news distribution site. Inaddition, the system control unit 14 of the information processingserver 10 assigns an article ID to article data to store in article DB12 a in order to specify an article.

Next, the information processing server 10 extracts characteristic wordsfrom article data (step S2). More specifically, the system control unit14 of the information processing server 10 performs, for example,morpheme analysis or syntax analysis of a sentence of article data, andextracts a characteristic word such as a noun as a candidate of a localarea word or a local area relevant word. In this case, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 counts thenumber of extracted characteristic words. Thus, the system control unit14 of the information processing server 10 functions as an example of acharacteristic word extracting means that extracts a characteristic wordfrom article data.

Next, the information processing server 10 decides whether or not theextracted characteristic word exists in the local area word DB 12 b(step S3). More specifically, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 refers to the landmark table, theprefectural and city government table, the local government table, thepostal code table and the address table of specified street names in thelocal area word DB 12 b, and decides whether or not the extractedcharacteristic word corresponds to, for example, a characteristic wordregistered in the local area word DB 12 b. The system control unit 14 ofthe information processing server 10 specifies a characteristic wordwhich is not stored in the characteristic word DB 12 b as a local areaword or a local area relevant word. For example, a landmark which is “∘∘tree” is being built, and “∘∘ tree” does not exist in the local areaword 12 b. Thus, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 functions as an example of a characteristic wordspecifying means that specifies a characteristic word which is notstored in the local area word memory means as a local area word, fromthe extracted characteristic words.

When the extracted characteristic words do not exist in the local areaword DB 12 b (step S3; NO), the information processing server 10performs searching based on a characteristic word (step S4). Morespecifically, the system control unit 14 of the information processingserver 10 makes a request for web search for the specifiedcharacteristic word to the search server 20.

Next, the information processing server 10 extracts a search resultcharacteristic word from a search result (step S5). More specifically,the system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10acquires a search result such as a snippet from the search server 20.Further, the system control unit 14 of the information processing server10 performs, for example, morpheme analysis as in step S2 based on thesearch result, and extracts the search result characteristic word. Thus,the system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10functions as an example of a search result means that acquires a resultof searching performed in a search device according to the specifiedcharacteristic word.

Next, the information processing server 10 refers to the local area wordDB 12 b, and specifies a local area from the search resultcharacteristic word (step S6). More specifically, the system controlunit 14 of the information processing server 10 refers to the local areaword DB 12 b, and extracts the search result characteristic word whichis a local area word or a local area relevant word. Further, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 specifies alocal area in accordance with an appearance frequency from the extractedsearch result characteristic words, and specifies the local area takinginto account a weight assigned to each table such as the landmark tableof the local area word DB 12 b. Furthermore, the system control unit 14of the information processing server refers to the local area word DB 12b, and finds the longitude/latitude (an example of geographyinformation) of the specified local area. Thus, the system control unit14 of the information processing server 10 functions as an example of alocal area specifying means that specifies a local area related toarticle data and finds geography information based on the search resultin the search result means. Further, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 functions as an example of a local areaspecifying means that refers to a characteristic word extracting meansthat extracts a search result characteristic word from the search resultof the search result means and the local area word memory means,specifies a local area from the search result characteristic word andfinds geography information. Further, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 functions as an example of a local areaspecifying means that specifies a local area based on the calculatedappearance frequency and a weighting value, and finds geographyinformation. In addition, details of how to specify a local area will bedescribed later.

Next, the information processing server 10 stores a characteristic wordas a local area relevant word in association with the specified localarea (step S7). More specifically, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 stores it in the landmark table of thelocal area word DB 12 b in association with geography information suchas the longitude/latitude and an address of the specified local area.For example, a new landmark (an example of a local area relevant word)which is “∘∘ tree” is registered in the local area word DB 12 b inassociation with the longitude/latitude or an address. Thus, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 functions as anexample of the local area specifying means that stores the specifiedcharacteristic word in the local area memory means as a local area wordin association with the specified local area.

After step S7 or when the extracted characteristic word exists in thelocal area word DB 12 b (step S3; YES), the information processingserver 10 decides whether or not all extracted characteristic words areprocessed (step S8). More specifically, the system control unit 14 ofthe information processing server 10 subtracts one from the number ofextracted characteristic words (the number of times of counting) one byone, and, when the number of characteristic words becomes zero (step S8;NO), finishes processing. When the number of times of counting is notzero (step S8; YES), the step returns to step S3 to process the nextcharacteristic word.

(3.2 To Acquire Article Data for Mapping)

Next, processing which is necessary to collect article data, and specifyand schematize a local area indicated by article data will be describedusing FIGS. 8 to 11.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of theinformation processing server 10 for mapping article data. FIG. 9 is aschematic view illustrating an example of article data acquired by theinformation processing server 10. FIG. 10 is a schematic viewillustrating an example of a frequency of an extracted local area word.FIG. 11 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a tableconstructed in a database of the information processing server 10.

First, an operation of acquiring article data from, for example, thenews distribution site 5, and storing, for example, article data in thearticle data DB 12 a in step S11 to step S18 will be described.

The information processing server 10 acquires article data (step S11).More specifically, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 acquires article data illustrated in FIG. 9according to the same processing as in step S1.

Next, the information processing server 10 specifies article content(step S12). More specifically, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 functions as an example of an articlecontent specifying means to perform morpheme analysis, extractcharacteristic words from a sentence of article data, match thecharacteristic words and a keyword for specifying article content storedin the article DB 12 b, and specify article content. For example, thesystem control unit 14 of the information processing server 10 specifiesthat, when there are characteristic words such as “home-run” and“hitter” related to baseball in article data, article content isspecified as “baseball”. In addition, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 may specify article content accordingto, for example, an algorithm of summarizing an existing sentence.

Next, the information processing server 10 specifies an article category(step S13). More specifically, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 functions as an example of an articlecontent specifying means to refer to the article DB 12 a, and specify acategory to which the specified article content belongs. When, forexample, article content is “baseball”, a category is “sport”. Inaddition, a news article is generally classified into a category such as“world” or “sport” in a news distribution site, and the system controlunit 14 of the information processing server 10 may specify an articlecategory depending on from which category article data is acquired inthe news distribution site. For example, there is information about acategory in URL information depending on a news distribution site, andthe system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10specifies an article category based on URL information including articledata.

Next, the information processing server 10 calculates the amount ofinformation of article data (step S14). More specifically, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 calculates theamount of information of article data from the amount of data of articledata corresponding to the volume of an article, and the number ofletters in a sentence and the number of words. Further, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 may calculatethe number of nouns in a sentence of article data, the number ofadjectives and the number of adverbs by, for example, morpheme analysisor syntax analysis, and calculate the amount of information of articledata based on the number of these parts of speech.

Next, the information processing server 10 extracts local area wordsfrom article data (step S15). More specifically, the system control unit14 of the information processing server 10 extracts characteristic wordssimilar to step S2, refers to the local area word DB 12 b, and extractsa name of a place or a landmark as an example of geography informationfrom the acquired article data. For example, the system control unit 14of the information processing server 10 extracts local area words andlocal area relevant words such “∘∘ tree”, “Tokyo”, “Δ tower”, “hotels inTokyo”, “∇∇ ward” and “∘Δ company” in article data. In addition, in caseof a characteristic word which does not exist in the local area word DB12 b, the system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10may extract words as local area relevant words through step S4 to stepS7.

Next, the information processing server 10 specifies a local arearelated to article data, from a local area and a local area relevantword (step S16). More specifically, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 calculates an appearance frequency ofgeography information extracted from the article data. As illustrated inFIG. 10, a histogram of the extracted local area words and local arearelevant words are found. Further, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 specifies a local area based on thecalculated appearance frequency. For example, the system control unit 14of the information processing server 10 finds “∘∘ tree” which is countedthe most in the article. Next, the system control unit 14 refers to, forexample, the landmark table in the local area word DB 12 b, andcalculates the longitude/latitude of “∘∘ tree” which is necessary to mapthe article on the map. Geography information which repeatedly appearsin article data is highly probably geography information for specifyingthe article data.

In addition, the system control unit 14 of the information processingserver 10 may find geography information such as a geography codecorresponding to a local area. For example, the system control unit 14of the information processing server 10 refers to the local area word DB12 b, and determines as a geography code a local public organizationcode of a local public organization which includes a local area relevantword “ΔΔ dome”. Further, in case of “∘Δ company”, the system controlunit 14 of the information processing server 10 specifies a location ofa head office as geography information.

Next, the information processing server 10 stores article data byassociating the specified article data, the specified category and thespecified local area (step S17). For example, the system control unit 14of the information processing server 10 functions as an example of anarticle data memory means to store the specified article content“baseball”, the specified category “sport”, the longitude/latitude ofthe specified local area word “ΔΔ ward, Tokyo” and the geography code inthe article DB 12 a in association with the acquired article data.

Next, the information processing server 10 counts the number of articlesrelated to article content and geography information (step S18). Morespecifically, as illustrated in FIG. 11, the system control unit 14 ofthe information processing server 10 functions as an example of arelevant article collecting means to increase a counter for a geographycode of the acquired article data and article content by one in a table12 t constructed in the article DB 12 a. In this case, as illustrated inFIG. 11, the system control unit 14 of the information processing server10 associates the counter with the category. Thus, the system controlunit 14 of the information processing server 10 collects informationabout an article related to the specified geography information andarticle content by increasing the number of times of counting in thetable 12 t.

In addition, the system control unit 14 of the information processingserver 10 may collect information about an article of, for example,similar content of the acquired article as an example of an articlerelated to the specified local area and article content. A similararticle includes, for example, an article of the same category, anarticle of a similar category or an article of a geographically closeposition. The system control unit 14 of the information processingserver 10 may count the number of similar articles.

(3.3 To Display Article Data)

Next, an operation of generating a webpage (window screen) to bedisplayed on the display unit 33 of the terminal 30 in step S20 to stepS24 will be described using FIGS. 12 to 16.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a window screendisplayed on the terminal 30. FIG. 13 is a schematic view illustratingan example of a symbol corresponding to article data displayed on theterminal 30. FIG. 14 is a schematic view illustrating an example of asymbol corresponding to article data displayed on the terminal 30. FIGS.15 and 16 are schematic views illustrating examples of a window screendisplayed on the terminal 30.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the information processing server 10 acquiresmap information (step S20). For example, as illustrated in FIG. 12, thesystem control unit 14 of the information processing server 10 acquiresmap information 41 of Japan from the map DB 12 c.

Next, the information processing server 10 sets the size of a symbol inaccordance with each category and the number of articles in a local area(step S21). The system control unit 14 of the information processingserver 10 functions as an example of a mapping means to refer to thetable 12 t constructed in the article DB 12 a, count the number of timesof counting a geography code belonging to each prefecture in prefecturaland city government units and article content belonging to eachcategory, calculate the number of articles and set the size of eachsymbol 50 to be mapped as illustrated in FIG. 12. Thus, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 controls thesize of a symbol in accordance with a result in step S18 (relevantarticle collecting means) to display.

Next, the information processing server 10 sets a color of the symbol inthe category (step S22). As indicated by hatchling lines correspondingto colors in FIG. 12, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 sets a color combination according to the categoryof each symbol 50. Further, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 sets a color combination of a legend ofthe symbols in a category column 42 as illustrated in FIG. 12.

Next, the information processing server 10 determines an arrangementposition of article data in a symbol based on the amount of informationof article data (step S23). As illustrated in FIG. 13, for example, thesystem control unit 14 of the information processing server 10 dividesthe symbol 50 into concentric areas 50 a, 50 b and 50 c in accordancewith the number of articles, and associates the area 50 a in the centerportion with article data of a little amount of information. Asindicated by a balloon 55 in FIG. 14, article data of a greater amountof information is sequentially associated with the areas 50 b and 50 con an outer side.

Further, as illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14, the system control unit 14of the information processing server 10 sets, for example, a webpagesuch that document of article data is displayed in the balloon 55 when apointer 45 operated by the operation unit 34 of the terminal 30 overlapseach of the areas 50 a, 50 b and 50 c. Furthermore, the system controlunit 14 of the information processing server 10 sets, for example, awebpage such that a link destination related to detailed article data orarticle data is displayed when each of the areas 50 a, 50 b and 50 c isclicked by the operation unit 34.

Next, the information processing server 10 generates a webpage in whichsymbols corresponding to article data are mapped on the map (step S24).More specifically, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 functions as an example of a mapping means togenerate a webpage 40 in which the symbols 50 corresponding to articledata are mapped on the geography information 41 of Japan as illustratedin FIG. 12.

Further, as illustrated in FIG. 15, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 also generates a webpage 40B related toanother area 41 b in map information of Japan. In this case, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 refers to thearticle DB 12 a including the table 12 t based on a geography codeincluded in an area to be displayed, and collects information relatedto, for example, article data and the number of articles of eachcategory.

Further, when a specific category of the category column 42B in thewebpage 40B is clicked, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 refers to the article DB 12 a including the table12 t and generates a webpage 40C such that the symbols 50 per articlecontent such as “baseball” or “soccer” are displayed as illustrated inFIG. 16. Meanwhile, in the webpage 40C an article content column 42C isdisplayed. In addition, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 may generate a webpage such that summary columns44B and 44C of an article are displayed as illustrated in FIGS. 15 and16.

Further, the system control unit 14 of the information processing server10 transmits information related to the webpage 40 to the terminal 30through the communication unit 11 in response to the request from theterminal 30.

Next, the system control unit 36 of the terminal 30 which has receivedthe information related to the webpage 40 through the communication unit31 displays, for example, the webpages 40, 40B and 40C on the displayunit 33.

As described, according to the present embodiment, by extractingcharacteristic words from article data, specifying from the extractedcharacteristic words a characteristic word which is not stored as alocal area word in the local area word DB 12 b which stores a local areaword indicating a local area in association with geography informationfor specifying a local area, acquiring a result of searching performedin a search device according to the specified characteristic word,specifying the local area associated with the article data based on thesearch result, finding geography information, and storing the specifiedcharacteristic word in the local area word DB 12 b as a local area wordin association with the geography information and the specified localarea, it is possible to specify a local area even from a word whichappears in an article and does not exist in the local area word DB 12 b.

Further, when a search result characteristic word is extracted from asearch result, and a local area is specified from the search resultcharacteristic word referring to the local area word DB 12 b, it ispossible to improve precision for specifying a local area by collectingand utilizing a wide variety of characteristic words which enable a nameof a local area to be specified from information such as a website.

Furthermore, when geography information related to article content andarticle data of the acquired article data is specified, the symbols 50corresponding to article data and having the size in accordance withinformation about an article related to the specified geographyinformation and article content are mapped and displayed on a map basedon the specified geography information, it is possible to visualizearticle data such that users' convenience is improved. Still further,the symbols 50 having the size in accordance with information about anarticle related to the specified geography information and articlecontent enable users to easily recognize where a related articlefrequently appears on a map.

Moreover, as illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14, when an arrangementposition of article data in the symbol 50 is determined in accordancewith the amount of information of article data, the system control unit14 of the information processing server 10 can intelligibly providearticle data to users in accordance with, for example, the volume of anarticle. Particularly when an article of a small volume is arranged inthe area 50 a in the center portion of the symbol 50, a short article isusually based only on an objective fact, and, when the area 50 a of thesymbol 50 is clicked, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 can provide an article on objective facts about adate, people, a place and officially known facts to the users.

Further, when a category of article content is specified and a mode ofthe symbol 50 is set per category, the mode of the symbol 50 makes thecategory intelligible and the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 can provide display of article data which the userscan easily select.

Furthermore, when geography information is specified based on theappearance frequency of geography information in article data, thesystem control unit 14 of the information processing server 10 canprecisely specify geography information without being influenced bygeography information which is noise.

Still further, when the number of articles related to the specifiedgeography information and article content is counted in the table 12 tand the size of the symbol is controlled and displayed in accordancewith the number of articles, it is possible to easily count the numberof articles. Moreover, the users can easily recognize what articlerelated to which part of the map appears frequently.

Next, a modified example of specifying a local area in step S6 and stepS16 will be described using FIGS. 17 to 19.

The system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10assigns a weight to the frequencies of a local area word and a localarea relevant word in accordance with the weight of each table stored inthe local area word DB 12 b such that the local area can be specifiedeven when the frequencies of the local area word and the local arearelevant word extracted from article data are the same. “Δ tower” is alandmark, and therefore a weight is five-fold and a score is “5”.Meanwhile, “Δ∘ prefecture” and “Δ∇ prefecture” are names of prefecturaland city governments, and therefore a weight is one-fold and a score is“1”. Further, “Δ tower” is counted the most from a distributed article,and the longitude and the latitude corresponding to “Δ tower” arespecified referring to the landmark table using the distributed articleas a position information to be mapped.

According to the next modified example, the system control unit 14 ofthe information processing server 10 may apply tf-idf (TermFrequency-Inverse Document Frequency) to a characteristic word, a localarea word and a local area relevant word. In case of, for example, anarticle illustrated in FIG. 17, when a paragraph A is a main portion ofan article, about one hundred articles including information only aboutthe paragraph A are distributed and about twenty articles includinginformation about the paragraph A and a paragraph B are distributed. Thesystem control unit 14 of the information processing server 10calculates a score for each local area word and local area relevant wordby applying tf-idf. Even when, for example, the appearance frequency of“Δ tower” is “4” and the appearance frequency of “∘∇ city” is “1”, ascore of “∘∇ city” is higher than a score of “Δ tower” and “∘∇ city” isspecified as a local area of the article. Further, the system controlunit 14 of the information processing server 10 maps article data on thelongitude and the latitude of “∘∇ city”. In this case, it is possible tomap an article distributed earlier on a name of a place the appearancefrequency of which is rare. Meanwhile, about twenty articles includinginformation only about the paragraph A are distributed, about onehundred articles including information about the paragraph + theparagraph B are distributed. In this case, by applying tf-idf, the scoreof “Δ tower” is higher than the score of “∘∇ city” in some cases.

Thus, when the system control unit 14 of the information processingserver 10 calculates the appearance frequency of a characteristic wordextracted in the article data, and specifies a local area based on thecalculated appearance frequency, it is possible to improve precision tospecify a local area.

According to another modified example, as illustrated in FIG. 18, when aproper name (a name of a person) such as “Mr./Ms. ●●●●” is included inan article, the system control unit 14 of the information processingserver 10 specifies a broad area of “Shinagawa ward” instead of a levelof a detailed area such as “xxx, Shinagawa ward”. Further, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 replaces “▾▾▾store” in an article with “Shinagawa ward, Tokyo”, “xxx, Shinagawa ward”with “xxx, Shinagawa” and the longitude and the latitude on which thearticle is mapped, with the longitude and the latitude corresponding to“Shinagawa ward, Tokyo”. In this case, it is possible to prevent anarticle including a proper name from being mapped more accurately inmore details.

Meanwhile, processing of specifying a local area in case that the samename of a place exists at different places.

A local area is specified from another local area name or local arearelevant word in the same article. For example, an area name of“Ohte-machi” exists in Tokyo and Ehime, and, when “Ohte-machi” isextracted, the system control unit 14 of the information processingserver 10 refers to geography information such as another local areaword or local area relevant word in article data, and, in case of a nameof a place or a landmark related to Tokyo, specifies the area name as“Ohte-machi in Tokyo”. The system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 specifies a local area indicating article data asindicated in step S16 when the local area is specified.

Further, the system control unit 14 of the information processing server10 finds the relevance between characteristic words in article data, andassociates characteristic words around “Ohte-machi” as an example ofspecified characteristic words. In addition, the system control unit 14of the information processing server 10 performs morpheme analysis, andassociates characteristic words and other words around “Ohte-machi”using, for example, a distance between the numbers of characters betweencharacteristic words in an article and the word association DB 22 b ofthe search server 20. The system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 searches for a local area name and a local arearelevant word among associated words around “Ohte-machi”, and specifiesa local area indicating the article.

When a plurality of related words around the characteristic wordsspecified in this way are searched for and a local area is specifiedbased on the related words, it is possible to improve precision tospecify a local area by finding a local area from the related words. Inaddition, as illustrated in FIG. 19, it may be possible to make thedisplay unit 33 of the terminal 30 display a graph indicating words ofrelevant destinations around “Ohte-machi”, make users decide whether ornot the specified local area is correct and receive an input. A localarea indicated by an article is specified reflecting user's decision.

Next, a modified example of an operation will be described using FIGS.20 and 21. In addition, this modified example is a modified example ofan operation related to display of article data in step S20 andsubsequent steps, and step S11 to step S18 will not be described.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a modified example of an operationof the information processing server 10. FIG. 21 is a schematic viewillustrating a modified example of a window screen displayed on theterminal 30.

As illustrated in FIG. 20, the information processing server 10 acquiresuser information (step S30). More specifically, the system control unit14 of the information processing server 10 acquires, for example, aname, an address and a place of birth of a user, and the sex, the ageand a purchase history of the user based on a user ID of the user whologs in, for example, a shopping site, from, for example, the userinformation DB 12 d.

Next, the information processing server 10 acquires map informationbased on user information (step S31). More specifically, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 acquires mapinformation from the map DB 12 c based on user geography informationsuch as the address or the place of birth of user information.

Next, as in step S22, the information processing server 10 sets the sizeof a symbol according to each category and the number of articles in alocal area (step S32).

Next, the information processing server 10 emphasizes the symbolcorresponding to a local news in accordance with user geographyinformation of user information (step S33). More specifically, thesystem control unit 14 of the information processing server 10emphasizes the symbol corresponding to a local news according to anaddress or a place of birth of the user of user information. When, forexample, symbols 51 mapped on an area such as a user address overlapother symbols, the system control unit 14 of the information processingserver 10 emphasizes symbols by displaying the symbols 51 above theother symbols as illustrated in FIG. 21. Further, the system controlunit 14 of the information processing server 10 emphasizes the symbol bychanging a shape of a symbol 52 mapped on an area such as a place ofbirth of a user.

Next, the information processing server 10 emphasizes a symbol ofarticle content which users are likely to be interested in, based onuser information (step S34). More specifically, the system control unit14 of the information processing server 10 specifies article content ora category which users are likely to be interested in, from userinformation such as ages or purchase histories of users from, forexample, the user information DB 12 d. Further, when, for example, auser is interested in sport, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 changes a symbol indicating sport to,for example, a color or a pattern of the symbol which is the mosteye-catching. As illustrated in FIG. 21, the system control unit 14 ofthe information processing server 10 exchanges a color combination of alegend of a symbol 42 a and a symbol 42 b in the category column 42, andexchanges a color combination of the symbol 51 and a symbol 53 on a map.In addition, a symbol only needs to be emphasized by, for example,flashing the symbol to emphasize and display these symbols.

Next, as in step S24, the information processing server 10 generates awebpage in which symbols corresponding to article data are mapped on amap (step S35).

As described above, when display of the symbols 50, 51 and 52 mapped onan area related to a user address of user information is set, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 can providedisplay of article data intelligibly customized per user.

Further, when user information is acquired and display of the symbols 50and 53 is set in accordance with the user information, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 can intelligiblyprovide display of article data customized per user. Furthermore, it ispossible to comprehend an article related to, for example, a place ofresidence of one user. Still further, when past articles areaccumulated, associated in a symbol and displayed, it is possible tocomprehend the articles tracing the articles back in the past.

In addition, the information processing server 10 may function as anexample of a mapping means to seta display scale of a map in which anarticle is mapped in accordance with user information. As illustrated inFIG. 22, a webpage 60 is generated by expanding, for example, a displayscale of an area map of a place of birth in accordance with usergeography information such as a user address or a place of birth of userinformation similar to map information 61. In this case, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 can providedisplay of article data intelligibly customized per user.

Further, when a distribution source of an article is a newspaper companyin a district C, and there are peripheral local area names and localarea relevant words including a district X in the article, the articlemay be associated with the district X.

In addition, in step S41, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 may acquire as article data a result of searchingfor article data based on a search keyword, perform processings in stepS42 to step S46 and perform processings in step S49 and subsequentsteps. Further, article data may be other than a news articledistributed by a distribution company or information of an event of aspecific field which a general user lists in, for example, a blog orTwitter.

Furthermore, instead of collectively showing symbols per category, onearticle may be mapped on a map as a symbol.

Still further, a scale size of the map may be changed depending on alocal area the map of which is displayed. In case of a map such as Tokyoincluding a great number of articles, a local area the scale size ofwhich is increased and expanded is displayed, and, by contrast withthis, a local area including a small number articles may be displayed asa broad area by decreasing the scale size.

As to the size of a symbol, a change in the size of a symbol inaccordance with the number of articles may be made moderate for a localarea such as a Tokyo district including many articles. Further, the sizeof a symbol in accordance with the number of articles may be adjustedaccording to the type of a category of an article. For example, a symbolmay be small and a change in the size of the symbol in accordance withthe number of articles may be moderate for a category of many articles.Further, the size of a symbol in accordance with the number of articlesmay be adjusted in accordance with the population in a local area to bedisplayed. For example, a change in the size of a symbol in accordancewith the number of articles may be moderate for a local area of muchpopulation.

Further, the number of each category in all articles (for example, therate of articles on sport with respect to the number of all articles)may be displayed for each local area.

[4. Operation of Information Processing System According to SecondEmbodiment]

Next, an operation of an information processing system 1 according to asecond embodiment will be described using FIGS. 23 to 26. In addition,the same or corresponding portions as in the first embodiment will beassigned the same reference numerals, and described. The same applies toother embodiments and modified examples.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of aninformation processing server 10. FIG. 24 is a schematic viewillustrating an example of a table constructed in an article DB 12 a ofthe information processing server 10. FIG. 25 is a schematic viewillustrating an example of a window screen displayed on the terminal 30.FIG. 26 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a window screendisplayed on the terminal 30.

(4.1 To Store Article Data)

First, an operation of acquiring article data from, for example, a newsdistribution site 5, and storing, for example, article data in thearticle data DB 12 a in step S41 to step S46 will be described.

First, as illustrated in FIG. 23, the information processing server 10acquires article data (step S41). More specifically, a system controlunit 14 of the information processing server 10 acquires, for example, asentence of article data as in step S1.

Next, the information processing server 10 calculates, for example, theamount of information of article data (step S42). More specifically, thesystem control unit 14 of the information processing server 10calculates the amount of information of article data as in step S14.Further, for example, index information or a snippet are generated by anindexer and stored in the article DB 12 a in association with an articleID in order to search for a news article using a search keyword from theterminal 30.

Next, the information processing server 10 specifies a local area fromthe article data (step S43). More specifically, the system control unit14 of the information processing server 10 extracts a local area wordfrom the article data as in step S15, and specifies a local areaindicating the article data from the extracted local area word as instep S16.

Next, the information processing server 10 sets position informationrelated to a position on a map from the specified local area (step S44).More specifically, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 functions as an example of a position informationspecifying means to refer to a local area word DB 12 b, and set positioninformation related to the position on the map based onlongitude/latitude information or a geography code of the specifiedlocal area.

Next, the information processing server 10 specifies distribution timeinformation of article data (step S45). More specifically, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 specifiesdistribution time information of article data based on, for example, adistribution time of an article included in article data or a time whenarticle data is uploaded.

Next, the information processing server 10 stores the article data inassociation with the specified position information and the specifieddistribution time information (step S46). For example, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 functions as anexample of an article data memory means to store, for example, ageography code of the extracted local area word “ΔΔ ward, Tokyo”, thespecified distribution time information and the amount of information ofarticle data in the article DB 12 a in association with the article IDof the acquired article data.

(4.2 To Search and Group Article Data)

Next, an operation of searching for matching article data based on asearch keyword and grouping article data based on position informationand distribution time information of the article data in step S47 tostep S50 will be described.

First, the information processing server 10 acquires the search keyword(step S47). More specifically, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 receives and acquires a search keyword(for example, “Δ∘∇”) input by a user of the terminal 30, from theterminal 30 through a communication unit 11.

Next, the information processing server 10 searches for article databased on the search keyword (step S48). More specifically, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 refers to thearticle DB 12 a, searches for article data matching the search keywordand collects corresponding article data.

Next, the information processing server 10 groups article datadistribution times of which are temporally close and positions of whichare indicated by position information and are geographically close (stepS49). More specifically, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 groups articles which include distribution timeswhen the articles are distributed are close (for example, articlesdistributed on the same day or articles distributed on consecutive dayslike March 5 to March 6) and which include geography codes belonging toa predetermined area (an example of an article related to specificposition information). Still more specifically, as illustrated in FIG.24, the system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10arranges searched article data in order of distribution time informationin a table 12 s, and allocates a group number to article including ageography code belonging to the same area. The system control unit 14 ofthe information processing server 10 functions as an example of agrouping means that groups article data based on pieces of positioninformation of a plurality of items of article data of different piecesof distribution time information.

Next, the information processing server 10 calculates the number ofarticles included in a group (step S50). More specifically, asillustrated in FIG. 24, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 functions as an example of an article countcalculating means to refer to the table 12 s constructed in the articleDB 12 a, and calculate the number of articles of the same group number.

(4.3 To Display Article Data)

Next, an operation of generating a webpage (window screen) to bedisplayed on a display unit 33 of the terminal 30 in step S51 to stepS54 will be described.

The information processing server 10 sets the size of a symbol inaccordance with article data according to the number of articles in agroup (step S51). More specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 25, thesystem control unit 14 of the information processing server 10 firstacquires map information 71 of Japan from a map DB 12 c. Further, thesystem control unit 14 of the information processing server 10 refers tothe table 12 s constructed in the article DB 12 a, and sets the size ofeach of symbols 81, 82 and 83 to be mapped on the map information 71 ofthe webpage 70 in accordance with the counted number of articles of eachgroup. In the table 12 s, the symbol 81 corresponds to “group number:001”, the symbol 82 corresponds to “group number: 002” and the symbol 83corresponds to “group number: 003”. In addition, for example, a color ofa symbol may be set according to a category of news to which an articlematching a search keyword belongs.

Next, the information processing server 10 determines arrangementpositions of article data in the symbols 81, 82 and 83 based on theamount of information of each article data (step S52). The systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 determines anarrangement position of article data as in step S23.

Next, the information processing server 10 generates an arrow on a mapaccording to time series of a distribution time (step S53). For example,as illustrated in FIG. 25, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 first generates the symbol 81 from an articledistributed on March 4. Further, the symbol 82 is generated fromarticles distributed on March 5 to March 7.

Furthermore, the system control unit 14 generates arrows 90 as anexample of visualization information for visual association on the mapinformation 71. Still further, for example, the system control unit 14of the information processing server 10 calculates position coordinatesof the symbol 81 and the symbol 82 on the map information 71, andcalculates the lengths and the directions of the arrows 90 based on thecalculated coordinates. Moreover, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 calculates the position coordinates ofthe symbol 82 and the symbol 83 on the map information 71, andcalculates the lengths and the directions of the arrows 90 based on thecalculated coordinates.

Meanwhile, the positions of, for example, the symbols 81, 82 and 83 onthe map information 71 are determined based on position information (forexample, longitude/latitude information or a geography code) of eacharticle data corresponding to each of the symbols 81, 82 and 83. Forexample, positions of, for example, the symbols 81, 82 and 83 aredetermined as, for example, positions of addresses indicated bygeography codes, an average of a position of an address indicated by ageography code of each grouped article data or a predetermined positionsuch as a center portion of an area on the map indicated by a group.Thus, the system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10functions as an example of a visualization information generating meansto determine coordinates of a group of article data of different piecesof information about distribution times when articles are distributed,and which are in group in the webpage 70 from position information ofarticle data in a group. Further, information (arrows 90) for visuallyassociating a positional relationship of a group on the map illustratedin FIG. 25 based on the determined coordinates is generated.

Next, the information processing server 10 generates the webpage 70 inwhich arrows and symbols are mapped on the map (step S54). Morespecifically, as illustrated in FIG. 25, the system control unit 14 ofthe information processing server 10 generates for article data ofdistribution time information corresponding to a display period thewebpage 70 in which the symbols 81, 82 and 83 and the arrows 90 aremapped on the map information 71 of Japan based on position informationof each article data corresponding to the symbols 81, 82 and 83. Inaddition, as illustrated in FIG. 25, in the webpage 70, dates ofarticles and search keywords “Δ∘∇” are displayed near the symbols 81, 82and 83.

Further, the system control unit 14 of the information processing server10 transmits information related to the webpage 70 to the terminal 30through the communication unit 11 in response to the terminal 30.

Next, the system control unit 36 of the terminal 30 which has receivedthe information related to the webpage 70 through the communication unit31 makes the display unit 33 display the webpage 70.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 26, when a display period for displayingarticle data corresponding to distribution time information in apredetermined time is changed, in step S53, the system control unit 14of the information processing server 10 generates the webpage 70 inwhich the symbols 84, 85, 86 and 87 and the arrows 90 are mapped on themap information 71 based on position information of each article datacorresponding to each of the symbols 84, 85, 86 and 87. In addition, thesymbols 84, 85, 86 and 87 are local areas including the greatest numberof articles on a predetermined day. Further, when the numbers ofarticles on a predetermined day is the same, an area to be displayed maybe limited to one local area or a plurality of local areas may bedisplayed. Furthermore, symbols may be displayed in all areas includingarticles on a predetermined day. In these cases, a plurality of arrows90 may be indicated from the same symbol.

As described above, according to the embodiment, by acquiring a searchkeyword from a terminal, acquiring article data associated with a searchkeyword, specifying a local area indicated by article data, specifyingposition information related to a position on a map from the specifiedlocal area, setting information about a distribution time when thearticle data is distributed from the article data, storing the articledata in association the set position information and the distributiontime information, generating visualization information (for example, thearrows 90) for visually associating on the map the positions on a mapindicated by position information of a plurality of items of articledata (for example, article data indicated by the symbol 81 and articledata indicated by the symbol 82) of different pieces of distributiontime information and making the display unit 33 of the terminal 30display visualization information and the map, it is possible tovisualize how information about a news article spreads and propagates,and improve users' convenience. Further, the users can recognize howinformation propagates, that is, an article related to a search keywordis distributed and moves, on the map of the webpage 70. Furthermore,visualization information enables the users to comprehend how the searchkeyword (word) spreads, through an article.

Next, a modified example of visualization information will be describedusing FIGS. 27 to 29.

FIGS. 27 to 29 are schematic views illustrating various modifiedexamples of visualization information (arrows 90).

According to a first modified example of visualization information, asillustrated in FIG. 27, a form of arrows 91 is changed in accordancewith sizes of symbols 81 or 82 or the symbols 82 or 83 (corresponding tothe number of articles) at both ends of the arrows 91 which are examplesof visualization information. When, for example, the arrow 91 goes fromthe symbol 81 including a small number of articles to the symbol 82including a great number of articles, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 makes a base end portion side of a lineof the arrow 91 thinner and makes a tip portion side of the line of thearrow 91 bolder. Meanwhile, when, for example, the arrow 91 goes fromthe symbol 82 including a great number of articles to the symbol 83including a small number of articles, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 makes a base end portion side of theline of the arrow 91 bolder and makes a tip portion side of the line ofthe arrow 91 thinner. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 27, forexample, colors of the arrows 91 may be changed in accordance with anincrease/decrease in the number of articles.

Thus, the system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10refers to the article DB 12 a, calculates the number of articles relatedto specific position information and sets visualization information suchas the arrows 91 based on the number of articles, so that users caneasily and intuitively recognize how information spreads. Further, theusers can easily recognize what article related to which part of the mapappears frequently.

According to a second modified example of visualization information,when an article stays in a given area for a certain period of time suchas consecutive days of “March 5 to March 7”, forms of arrows are changedin accordance with a duration of stay. For example, the system controlunit 14 of the information processing server 10 changes the size of abase end portion of an arrow in accordance with a duration of stay of anarticle. The duration of stay is determined based on distribution timeinformation of article data of each group. In case of, for example,“group number 002” in the table 12 s, the duration of stay of an articleis calculated as three days from distribution time information. Further,the system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10 maychange the thickness of a line portion of an arrow or the size of a tipportion of the arrow in accordance with the duration of stay of anarticle.

Thus, the system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10refers to the table 12 s which is an example of an article data memorymeans, collects article data including position information related to aposition belonging to a predetermined area (predetermined range) on amap, and sets visualization information based on distribution timeinformation of the collected article data, so that users can intuitivelycomprehend how information spreads. Particularly when there isinformation about an article on consecutive days of “March 5 to March 7”in a given area, some useful information is likely to exist in thisarea, so that users can visually comprehend uniqueness of the local areain information.

According to a third modified example of visualization information, thesecond modified example and the third modified example are combined. Abase end portion of an arrow which is an example of visualizationinformation corresponds to a base end portion according to the thirdmodified example, and the line portion of the arrow and the tip portionof the arrow correspond to the line portion and the tip portion of thearrow according to the second modified example. In this case, users caneasily and intuitively recognize how the amount of information spreads,and comprehend uniqueness of a local area.

According to a fourth modified example of visualization information, asillustrated in FIG. 28, the relevance of information to a place otherthan the map information 71 of a display frame of a screen of thewebpage 70 is indicated. According to this modified example, therelevance to article data of overseas in particular is expressed.

An arrow 94 which is an example of visualization information stretchestoward the symbol 81 starting from a place other than the mapinformation 71 including article data which is older than article dataof the symbol 81. This arrow 94 enables the users to comprehend ageographical image of an information source. Further, an arrow 95 whichis an example of visualization information stretches toward a placeother than the map information 71 including article data which is newerthan the symbol 83, starting from the symbol 83. This arrow 95 enablesusers to comprehend a geographical image of the destination ofinformation about an article other than the map information 71.

Further, the arrows 94 and 95 which are examples of visualizationinformation enable users to visually comprehend how information about anews article broadly spreads and propagates.

In addition, when a very important person of a given country visitsJapan, the direction of the base end portion of the arrow 94 mayindicate a geographical position of the country, or the tip portion ofthe arrow 95 may indicate a geographical position of the country. Inthis case, it is possible to indicate a relationship between an articleand another country.

According to a fifth modified example of visualization information,visualization information is changed in accordance with the number oftimes of access to article data, and the number of articles is expressedby, for example, colors of symbols.

The system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10refers to a member information DB 12 b, and calculates the number oftimes of access to each article data based on a user ID or a log-in IDof a user who is logging in, for example, a shopping site. Further, thesystem control unit 14 of the information processing server 10 maycalculate the number of times of access to each article data usingCookie. In addition, to accurately measure this number of times ofaccess or the number of times each user views each article, the systemcontrol unit 14 of the information processing server 10 preferably doesnot increase the number of times of access when it is decided based on,for example, a user ID that the user is the same.

The size of a base end portion of an arrow which is an example ofvisualization information may be changed in accordance with the totalnumber of times of access to each article data belonging to “groupnumber: 001”. Further, the size of the base end portion of the arrow maybe changed in accordance with the total number of times of access toeach article data belonging to “group number: 002”. Furthermore, theline portion of the arrow on the base end portion may be made thick inaccordance with the size of the base end portion. Users can visuallycomprehend that the number of times of access is great and therefore thenumber of people who are interested in and reading an article of an areais probably high, and how information propagates.

Further, instead of the size of a symbol corresponding to the number ofarticles, the number of articles may be expressed by shades or colorssimilar to the symbols.

Next, a modified example of a window screen displayed on the terminal 30will be described using FIG. 29.

FIG. 29 is a schematic view illustrating a modified example of a windowscreen displayed on the terminal 30.

FIG. 29 illustrates that an area 72 in which the symbols 82 aredisplayed in FIG. 25 is enlarged and displayed. The system control unit14 of the information processing server 10 groups article data of “groupnumber 002” smaller into subgroups based on a geography code in thetable 12 s. Symbols 82A, 82B and 82C correspond to subgroups which aregrouped smaller, and the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing sever 10 generates the arrow 90 going from the subgroup ofthe symbol 82A to the subgroup of the symbol 82B and the arrow 90 goingfrom the subgroup of the symbol 82B to the subgroup of the symbol 82C.

Further, as in the fourth modified example of visualization information,an arrow 94B goes toward the symbol 82A starting from an area of thesymbol 81 other than map information 71B, and an arrow 95B goes towardan area of a symbol 73 other than the map information 71 starting fromthe symbol 82C.

In case of this modified example, when receiving from the terminal 30 arequest for enlarging the area 72 in which the symbol 82 is displayed,the system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10acquires map information about the area 72 in which the symbol 82 isdisplayed from the map DB 12 c. The system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 functions as a map scale means thatsets a scale of a map to be displayed on the display unit 33 of theterminal 30 by receiving from the terminal 30 a request for enlarging orreducing the map and acquiring map information from the map DB 12 c.

Next, although, as in step S49, the system control unit 14 of theinformation processing server 10 groups article data distribution timesof which are temporally close and positions of which are indicated byposition information and are geographically close, a predetermined areais further narrowed, article data is grouped and subgroups are generatedfor article data belonging to “group number 002”. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 29, subgroups corresponding to the symbols 82A, 82Band 82C are generated. Thus, when the scale of the map is controlled,the system control unit 14 of the information processing server 10groups grouped article data based on position information again.

Next, as in step S50, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 calculates the number of articles included in thesubgroups.

Next, as in step S51, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 sets the sizes of the symbols 82A, 82B and 82Ccorresponding to article data, based on the number of articles of thesubgroups.

Next, as in step S52, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 determines arrangement positions of article data inthe symbols 82A, 82B and 82C based on the amount of information of eacharticle data.

Next, as in step S53, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 generates the arrow 90 going from the symbol 82A tothe symbol 82B and the arrow 90 going from the symbol 82B to the symbol82C according to time series of distribution times. In addition, thesystem control unit 14 of the information processing server 10 may usean average distribution time of article data in the subgroups, anddetermines the directions of the arrows 90 according to the averagedistribution time. Thus, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 determines an arrangement of the symbols 82A, 82Band 82C on the map based on the position indicated by positioninformation of grouped article data, and generates the arrows 90 forvisually associating the symbols on the map according to the group.

Next, as in step S54, the system control unit 14 of the informationprocessing server 10 generates the webpage 70 in which the arrows andthe symbols are mapped on the map the scale of which is changed, basedon positions indicated by position information of subgrouped articledata.

In case of this modified example, users can comprehend a detailed flowof information as a flow of information toward the symbol 82, that is,from the symbol 82A, the arrow 90, the symbol 82B, the arrow 90 to thesymbol 82C, and an entire flow of information like the arrows 94B and95B.

In addition, the search server 20 which is an example of an externalsearch device which is not provided in a server system 7, through thenetwork 3. Further, the information processing server 10 which is anexample of an information processing device may include a search device.That is, the information processing server 10 may have the search DB 22a, and, in place of the search server 20, the information processingserver 10 may perform searching using a specified characteristic wordand acquire a search result.

Further, the invention is by no means limited to the above embodiments.The above embodiment is an exemplary embodiment, employs substantiallythe same configuration as a technical idea disclosed in the scope of theclaims of the invention, and any configuration is incorporated in atechnical scope of the invention as long as the configuration providesthe same function and effect.

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   3: NETWORK-   10: INFORMATION PROCESSING SERVER (INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE)-   12: MEMORY UNIT-   12 a: ARTICLE DB (ARTICLE DATA MEMORY MEANS)-   12 b: LOCAL AREA WORD DB (LOCAL AREA WORD MEMORY MEANS)-   12 c: MAP DB-   12 d: USER INFORMATION DB-   12 e: VISUALIZATION INFORMATION DB-   20: SEARCH SERVER (SEARCH DEVICE)-   22: MEMORY UNIT-   22 a: SEARCH DB-   22 b: WORD ASSOCIATION DB-   50, 51, 52, 53: SYMBOL-   90, 91, 94, 94B, 95, 95B: ARROW (VISUALIZATION INFORMATION)

The invention claimed is:
 1. An information processing devicecomprising: at least one memory operable to store program code; at leastone processor operable to read the program code and operate asinstructed by the program code, the program code including: codeconfigured to cause the at least one processor to store, in a local areaword memory, a local area word indicating a local area in associationwith geography information for specifying the local area; article dataacquiring code configured to cause the at least one processor to acquirearticle data; characteristic word extracting code configured to causethe at least one processor to extract characteristic words from text ofthe article data; determining code configured to cause the at least oneprocessor to, by comparing the characteristic word and each of the localarea word stored in the local area word memory, determine whether or notthe characteristic word matches any of the local area word; searchresult code configured to cause the at least one processor to request asearch device to perform a web search by using the characteristic wordas a keyword and acquire a search result from the search device, thecharacteristic word being determined not to match any of the local areaword; local area specifying code configured to cause the at least oneprocessor to specify a local area related to the article data based onthe search result acquired by the search result code, and locategeography information; article content specifying code configured tocause the at least one processor to match article content of the articledata and a predetermined keyword, and specify the article content of thearticle data as at least one of the predetermined keyword; codeconfigured to cause the at least one processor to store, in an articledata memory, the article data in association with at least one of thepredetermined keyword and the specified local area; mapping codeconfigured to cause the at least one processor to map a symbolcorresponding to the article data on a map based on the specified localarea; and relevant article collecting code configured to cause the atleast one processor to refer to the article data memory, and collectinformation about articles related to the specified local area and thespecified article content, wherein: the local area specifying codecauses the at least one processor to store the specified characteristicword in the local area word memory as the local area word in associationwith the specified local area; the mapping code causes the at least oneprocessor to map symbols in accordance with a number of the collectedarticles; the search result code causes the at least one processor tosearch for a plurality of related words around the specifiedcharacteristic word; and the local area specifying code causes the atleast one processor to specify the local area from the related words,and locate the geography information.
 2. The information processingdevice according to claim 1, wherein the mapping code causes the atleast one processor to determine an arrangement position of the articledata in the symbol in accordance with an amount of information of thearticle data.
 3. The information processing device according to claim 1,wherein: the article content specifying code causes the at least oneprocessor to specify a category of the article content; and the mappingcode causes the at least one processor to change a mode of the symbolper category.
 4. The information processing device according to claim 1,further comprising: distribution time information specifying codeconfigured to cause the at least one processor to specify informationabout a distribution time at which the article data is distributed, fromthe article data, wherein the article data acquiring code causes the atleast one processor to acquire article data related to a search keyword,and the mapping code causes the at least one processor to mapvisualization information for visually associating, on a map, symbolscorresponding to a plurality of items of article data of differentpieces of distribution time information in article data related to thesearch keyword.
 5. The information processing device according to claim1, wherein: the characteristic word extracting code causes the at leastone processor to extract a search result characteristic word from thesearch result acquired by the search result code; and the local areaspecifying code causes the at least one processor to refer to the localarea memory, specify the local area from the search resultcharacteristic word, and locate the geography information.
 6. Theinformation processing device according to claim 1, wherein: the localarea specifying code causes the at least one processor to calculate anappearance frequency of the characteristic word extracted from thearticle data, specify the local area based on the calculated appearancefrequency and locate the geography information.
 7. The informationprocessing device according to claim 6, wherein: the local area wordmemory includes a weighting value per local area word; and the localarea specifying code causes the at least one processor to specify thelocal area based on the calculated appearance frequency and theweighting value, and locate the geography information.
 8. Theinformation processing device according to claim 1, wherein: the localarea specifying code causes the at least one processor to specify theplurality of related word using a distance between a numbers ofcharacters between characteristic words in the article data.
 9. Aninformation processing method of processing information in aninformation processing device comprising: a local area word memory stepof associating and storing a local area word indicating a local area,and geography information for specifying the local area, in a local areaword memory; an article data acquiring step of acquiring article data; acharacteristic word extracting step of extracting characteristic wordsfrom text of the article data; a determining step of comparing thecharacteristic word and each of the local area word stored in the localarea word memory and determining whether the characteristic word matchesany of the local area word; a search result step of requesting a searchdevice to perform a web search by using the characteristic word as akeyword and acquiring a search result, the characteristic word beingdetermined not to match any of the local area word; a local areaspecifying step of specifying a local area related to the article databased on the search result of the search result step, and locatinggeography information; an article content specifying step of matchingarticle content of the article data and a predetermined keyword, andspecifying the article content of the article data as at least one ofthe predetermined keyword; an article data memory step of storing thearticle data in an article data memory in association with at least oneof the predetermined keyword and the specified local area; a mappingstep of mapping a symbol corresponding to the article data on a mapbased on the specified local area; and a relevant article collectingstep of referring to the article data memory, and collecting informationabout articles related to the specified local area and the specifiedarticle content, wherein: in the local area specifying step, thespecified characteristic word is stored in the local area word memory asthe local area word in association with the specified local area; in themapping step, symbols in accordance with a number of collected articlesare mapped; in the search result step, a plurality of related wordsaround the specified characteristic word are searched; and in the localarea specifying step, the local area is specified from the relatedwords, and the geography information is located.
 10. A non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium recording an information processingprogram causing a computer to: store, in a local area word memory, alocal area word indicating a local area in association with geographyinformation for specifying the local area; acquire article data; extractcharacteristic words from text of the article data; determine, bycomparing the characteristic word and each of the local area word storedin the local area word memory, whether or not the characteristic wordmatches any of the local area word; request a search device to perform aweb search by using the characteristic word as a keyword and acquire asearch result, the characteristic word being determined not to match anyof the local area word; specify a local area related to the article databased on the search result from the search device, and locate geographyinformation; match article content of the article data and apredetermined keyword, and specify the article content of the articledata as at least one of the predetermined keyword; store, in an articledata memory, the article data in association with at least one of thepredetermined keyword and the specified local area; map a symbolcorresponding to the article data on a map based on the specified localarea; and refer to the article data memory, and collect informationabout articles related to the specified local area and the specifiedarticle content, wherein: the specified characteristic word is stored inthe local area word memory as the local area word in association withthe specified local area; symbols are mapped in accordance with a numberof the collected articles; a plurality of related words around thespecified characteristic word are searched; and the local area isspecified from the related words, and the geography information islocated.